By OBAKENG MAJE
The Taung Cultural Calabash event organiser is facing a criminal case. This comes after the organiser allegedly failed to follow the proper procedure to organise the whopping R4 million Taung Cultural Calabash that was held at Mmabana Centre in Taung on 19 November 2022.
The criminal case was laid by the Taung Police Station station commander, Colonel Tshupetso Mojahi.
The North West police spokesperson, Capt Aafje Botma said: “The station commander opened a case of non-compliance on 19 November 2022 against the organiser of the Taung Cultural Calabash. This comes after the organiser was informed to follow the proper procedure to apply for the event and he failed to do so.
“A case of organising an event without obtaining a valid certificate contemplated in Section 8 of the Safety and Sports and Recreational Events Act was opened against him.”
However, Botma said there are no arrests thus far.
The Taung Cultural Calabash event organiser, Molefi Setlatlaleng from Mega Works and Showtime Entertainment, which is a company that was awarded a tender, disputed the allegations and said it is news to him.
“I was not aware that you can open a docket after the event. I am hearing this for the first time from you,” Setlatlaleng said.
Meanwhile, some aggrieved local artists and business persons, who previously boycotted the event welcomed the move. One of the bidders, Kwaame Communication JV Designs by Caylos, Kenosi Kehiloe said this clearly shows that there was a discrepancy surrounding the whole fiasco.
“This will strengthen our case against the department and event organiser. We decided not to go and stop the event because it could have been bloodshed.
“We are still fighting for what is rightfully ours even though some artists created divisions amongst us. We allowed the event to continue because we did not want to be labelled as hooligans,” he said.
The TCC was established back in 1994 as an annual youth-based arts festival and soon found a sponsor in the Transnet Foundation.
However, it was marred with corruption, mismanagement of funds, and maladministration. This forced the country’s transport parastatal, Transnet to pull the plug.
One of the local business persons, Xolani Nkonyana said, the event was supposed to encompass the culture and heritage of the community, instead it has lost its value. Nkonyana further said, the event was also supposed to create job opportunities for local people, but it does not serve that purpose anymore because it has been ‘hijacked’ by criminals.
“We have been trying in vain to have consultative engagements with the ASCR and Mmabana Foundation to iron out our grievances, however, our plea fell on deaf ears. There is a discrepancy in the awarding of the tender, so we called on Mmabana Foundation to conduct investigations, especially from the supply chain management (SCM).
“It cannot be correct that the Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival and Taung Cultural Calabash events continue to be awarded to the same service provider over and over again. There are allegations that the local company, Kwaame Communication JV Designs by Caylos has been removed from the list even though it performed way better than the appointed service provider,” Nkonyana said.
Meanwhile, the Mmabana Foundation spokesperson, Kelebogile Modiselle failed to respond to our WhatsApp messages and calls.
The Guardian 